Mirrors, Seeing and Chi on the Broomielaw
Man comes up to me mid-pirouette
“Did you ever think about chi”? he asks.
This random exchange is pretty usual for me during my Clyde-side dances.
“Chi“? I reply removing my ipod earphones.
“I mean, is that what they call it”? he continues waving his hands about to indicate ‘chi’, eager to share the secret.
“Well it disappears once you pass the bridge over there… I had a neck problem and it just disappeared when I walked though here…”
Ah another day on the Broomielaw – the unfolding of people’s stories, those moments I love. He went on to tell me of something good he had done for his cousin years ago, he was sure that good thing had come back to him.
‘You know how sometimes you know good people? You do, I can tell…’
Finally the subject exhausted in his mind he ended the exchange with,
“Chi, aye. Have a good ‘un’
And continues down the Broomielaw corridor.
Thinking on this I am reminded that I’ve just sold my mirror. It’s a strange thing to go from having a mirror, to not having a mirror. It makes the activity of getting dressed entirely different. Add to that I auctioned my eye glasses on ebay months ago, and you might assume I have no way of seeing, or seeing myself.
HA!
I, of course, have a different opinion on that subject, well I’d have to, I haven’t ‘seen’ in months. Ever hear of ‘block away beauties’ – those individuals who look positively delectable from a block away but when they get up close and open their mouths, oh good Lord, it quickly fades as the less salient parts of themselves escape via their gob. Of course it works the opposite as well, as people become more attractive the more you get to know them.
Personality does count for a lot. Good to note the word PERSON is included in PERSONality, rather than LIKEEVERYONEELSE-ality,. It’s attractive to be yourself, and to be happy to be yourself.
To actually SEE the other is a gift, because that PERSONs unique self is a gift, and to recognize that a blessing.
Just because I don’t have glasses doesn’t mean I can’t see, it means I ‘see differently’. I’d like to think it’s a little bit of Matisse of the eyes.
Maybe that’s MY chi. Who needs a mirror anyway!
